Getting to grips with RF design

Find the Latest SoC Solutions
for... Automotive... IoT... Security... Audio... Video

Wireless communication has become ubiquitous and forms a vital aspect of virtually every technology we interact.

www.newelectronics.co.uk/, Sept. 11, 2023 – 

Radio frequency (RF) and wireless design are considered specialist skills within the electronics industry, so usually, only those involved understand the terminology and critical principles. However, embedded designers and hardware engineers increasingly find their development tasks require them to have a basic understanding of RF concepts.

Today, we take always-on connectivity for granted. Wireless communication underpins all our technology, from Bluetooth headsets and cellular smartphones to home media centres and automotive infotainment systems, with ultra-low-power innovations in wireless transceiver design opening up even more potential use cases.

The last two decades have seen wireless connectivity adoption accelerate significantly, so that today wireless connectivity powers personal mobility, delivers freedom from wired connections, and develops communities.

Conveying Information Wirelessly

To fully understand how wireless communication works, designers and engineers need to consider several fundamental concepts. The first is that wireless communication relies on electromagnetic waves, which are synchronised oscillations of electric and magnetic fields propagating through space. The spectrum of electromagnetic radiation is extremely wide, from long-wave radio, microwaves, visible light, and ultraviolet light. The term wavelength, measured in metres, describes the distance between the crests or two corresponding points of an electromagnetic wave (Figure 1), ranging from tens of kilometres (e.g., long wave radio) to tens of nanometres (e.g., infrared). To put it into context, visible light detectable by the human eye ranges from 380 to 700 nanometres.

click here to read more...

 Back